Soil erodibility as impacted by vegetation restoration strategies on the Loess Plateau of China

Abstract

Near soil surface characteristics change significantly with vegetation restoration, and thus, restoration strategies likely affect soil erodibility. However, few studies have been conducted to quantify the effects of vegetation restoration strategies on soil erodibility in regions experiencing rapid vegetation restoration. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of vegetation restoration strategies on soil erodibility, reflected by soil cohesion (Coh), penetration resistance (PR), saturated conductivity (Ks), number of drop impacts (NDI), mean weight diameter of soil aggregates (MWD), and soil erodibility K factor on the Loess Plateau. One slope farmland and five 25‐year‐restored lands covered by old world bluestem, korshinsk peashrub, shrub sophora, sea‐buckthorn, and black locust were selected as test sites. The old world bluestem was restored via natural succession, while the other four lands were restored by artificial planting. A comprehensive soil erodibility index (CSEI) was produced by a weighted summation method to quantify the effects of vegetation restoration strategies on soil erodibility completely. The results showed that Coh, Ks, NDI, and MWD of the five restored lands were greater than those of the slope farmland. However, the PR and K of the five restored lands were less than those of the slope farmland. CSEI varied greatly under different restoration strategies, from 1 to 0.214. Compared with the control, these indices decreased on average by 68.2%, 78.6%, 72.7%, 75.8%, and 62.8% for old world bluestem, korshinsk peashrub, shrub sophora, sea‐buckthorn, and black locust, respectively. The variation in soil erodibility was significantly influenced by biological crust thickness, bulk density, organic matter content, plant litter density, and root mass density. Shrub‐lands via artificial planting, especially korshinsk peashrub, were considered the most effective restoration strategies to reduce soil erodibility on the Loess Plateau. The results are helpful for selecting vegetation restoration strategies and asking their benefits in controlling soil erosion. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spatial Variation Characteristics of Soil Erodibility in the Yingwugou Watershed of the Middle Dan River, China

“…K-values increased along soil depth, which was consistent with the result of Stavi and Lai [15]. This indicated that erodibility was weakest for surface soil, and that anticorrosion ability was strongest.…”

“…Therefore, k-value is regarded as an essential parameter used in soil erosion prediction [12]. Researchers have conducted a great deal of research on the k-value of soil erodibility, constructing the relationship between the k-value with soil properties and soil loss in an attempt to simplify the calculation method and analyze the spatial distribution characteristics [13][14][15][16].…”

Analyzing Regional Geographic Challenges: The Resilience of Chinese Vineyards to Land Degradation Using a Societal and Biophysical Approach

“…Subjects such as the principles of soil erosion, soil and water conservation engineering, gully and rill erosion and desertification-combating sciences have been discussed for steep slopes, depleted fertile soil horizons, deforested areas and intensively cultivated areas, among others. Enormous resources and efforts have been invested in studies on vegetation restoration, ecological hydrology and soil and water conservation [56][57][58]. The conclusions of these studies can be summarized as follows: (i) the contribution of rainfall, soil and water conservation measurements and vegetation factors to runoff and sediment generation on loess hillslopes; (ii) establishment of different in situ and modeling methods to quantitatively describe multiple factors influencing soil moisture, runoff and soil erosion; (iii) estimation of runoff mitigation by different cover crop root systems; (iv) identification of the effects of terracing and vegetation types on soil conditions after long-term land stabilization measures have been implemented and (v) evaluation of soil carbon sequestration in arid and semi-arid degraded lands.…”

Multiscale Spatiotemporal Analysis of Extreme Events in the Gomati River Basin, India

“…Numerous studies [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] have concluded that there is a considerable increase in the hot days, warm nights at several places across the globe. Similarly, there has been considerable evidence [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] wherein spatio-temporal changes in extreme precipitation are observed in addition to the increasing temperature which have led to extreme droughts, flood conditions and heat waves.…”

“…Garcia-Cueto et al, [18] observed 4-5 • C and 2-3 • C rise of summer temperature increases in Northwestern Mexico under RCP 4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. Wang et al, [19] examined the spatiotemporal trends of temperature and precipitation indices proposed by ETCCDI in the Loess Plateau region of China and observed significant warming and drying trends at all temperature and precipitation extremes, respectively. The application of ETCCDI indices in India's upper Tapi river basin has exhibited increasing trends in hottest and coldest days and decreasing trends in coldest nights in most portions of the basin [20].…”